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Mountain in the Lake District, England

Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is the sixth highest in England. It lies just north of the town of Keswick, Cumbria, and dominates the skyline in this part of the northern lakes. It is the simplest of the Lake District mountains of this height to ascend (as there is a well trodden tourist track from a car park to the north east of Keswick, near the summit of Latrigg) and, as such, many walking guides recommend it to the occasional walker wishing to climb a mountain. This is the first summit of the fell running challenge known as the Bob Graham Round when undertaken in a clockwise direction. The mountain lends its name to the surrounding areas of Skiddaw Forest and Back o' Skidda, and to the isolated Skiddaw House, situated to the east, formerly a shooting lodge and subsequently a youth hostel. It also provides the name for the slate derived from that region: Skiddaw slate. Skiddaw slate has been used to make tuned percussion musical instruments or lithophones, such as the Musical Stones of Skiddaw held at the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery.

The Northern Fells make up a roughly circular upland area approaching 10 mile (16 km) in width. At the centre is the marshy depression of Skiddaw Forest, a treeless plateau, or valley, at an elevation of about ; flowing outwards from here are the rivers that divide the area into three sectors. "Forest" is used here in its original sense, meaning land used for hunting, rather than a woodland. The south western sector, between the Glenderaterra Beck and Dash Beck, contains Skiddaw and its satellites. Skiddaw itself takes the form of a north–south ridge about long, with steep slopes to east and west. The ridge continues northwards over Broad End to Bakestall, a fell overlooking the Whitewater Dash waterfall. Further ridges fan out east and west from the southern end of Skiddaw. To the south east are Skiddaw Little Man, Lonscale Fell and Latrigg, an easily accessible viewpoint for Keswick and Derwentwater. Beyond these fells are the Glenderaterra Beck and the Blencathra group. The south western ridge curves round through 180 degrees to run north above the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake. This gives Skiddaw an 'outer wall', comprising Carl Side, Long Side and Ullock Pike, collectively referred to as Longside Edge. The final member of the Skiddaw Group is Dodd, a satellite of Carl Side. Between Skiddaw and Longside Edge are the quiet valleys of Southerndale and Barkbethdale, separated by the spur of Buzzard Knott. These drain the western flanks of the fell to Bassenthwaite Lake. The eastern side of Skiddaw drains into Skiddaw Forest, much of the water reaching Candleseaves Bog. This marsh is the source of both the Dash Beck flowing north west to Bassenthwaite and the River Caldew, beginning its long journey north eastward to the Solway Firth via Carlisle. Two smooth spurs on this eastern flank of Skiddaw, Sale How and Hare Crag, are listed in separate tops in some guidebooks. Sale How is also a Nuttall. Skiddaw's slopes are generally rounded and convex, looking from a distance as though a thick velvet blanket has been draped over a supporting frame. On the ridges the general terrain is of loose stones, but elsewhere all is grass and heather. Wainwright noted that "Its lines are smooth, its curves graceful; but because the slopes are steep everywhere, the quick build up of the “massif” from valley levels to central summit is appreciated at a glance — and it should be an appreciative glance, for such massive strength and such beauty of outline rarely go together." According to Eilert Ekwall, Skiddaw's name is derived from the Old Norse elements skyti or skut + haugr meaning either "archer's hill" or "jutting crag hill". Diana Whaley likewise interprets it as "the mountain with the jutting crag", but also offers the alternative that the first element may be a personal name or Old Norse skítr 'dung, filth, shit'. Richard Coates suggests that "it is possible that a Cumbric solution is to be sought." Canon Rawnsley, a founder of the National Trust, visited in about 1900 and mentions in one of his books the hospitality of the shepherd's family at that time. Sir Hugh Walpole, author of the Lake District novel Rogue Herries, was a visitor in the 1920s and 30s and used the house as the scene, set in 1854, of the murder by Uhland. These arrangements for accommodation continued until the early 1950s. Several families brought up their children there until they were able to go to school, but the longest tenure was possibly that of Pearson Dalton, a shepherd and bachelor from the Caldbeck area, who came to stay for a month in 1952 and left in 1969 aged 75. He lived there alone for five days a week, only going home for long weekends with his sister in Caldbeck, then returning on the Monday to resume his duties. By that time farming practices had changed and the house was no longer needed; it declined, although there was intermittent use by various schools and outdoor groups. On 1 April 1934 the parish was abolished and merged with Underskiddaw.